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AireSpring Partners Celebrate Grand Opening &
AireSpring proudly welcomed our valued Partners to a special Grand Opening Celebration on May 15, 2018. Partners received personally guided tours of the new headquarters conducted by AireSpring CEO, Avi Lonstein, and President and Chief Revenue Officer, Daniel Lonstein. Partners met with top executives and the team behind the AireSpring Advantage while touring areas such as the Network Operations Center (NOC), SD-WAN and UC Lab, and the Customer Service, Managed Services and Engineering departments.
We wrapped up the event with a memorable Semi-Retirement Luncheon honoring AireSpring National Director of Channel Sales Lanny Eule for his sixteen years of service, at the 94th Aero Squadron Restaurant overlooking a runway view of historic Van Nuys Airport. Thank you to the partners from southern California and those who flew in from out of state to join us for this exciting event. Any partners who were not able to attend our Grand Opening are welcome to arrange a visit and tour. Just reach out to your AireSpring channel manager or send an email to sales@airespring.com. |
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AireSpring Recognized with 2018 Visionary Spotlight Award
Berge Kaprelian, President/CEO and Group Publisher of ChannelVision stated, "We congratulate and thank AireSpring for its outstanding achievement in innovation for SD-WAN and SD Branch solutions for the communications industry, and for its dedication to channel partners and the indirect ecosystem." AireSpring products and services have been acknowledged in recent years as VSA award-winners in multiple categories, including for Overall Excellence in Network Infrastructure Innovation in 2017, and for UC & VoIP Best Channel Deployment in 2016. AireSpring has been widely recognized for its managed services and custom engineered network, with end-to-end quality of service (QoS), including a variety of carrier networks and cable providers aggregated to create a unified platform. It adds up to a seamless support and billing structure across all of AireSpring's datacenters in the United States. “We believe that SD-Wan technology is changing the landscape of enterprise WAN networks globally,” stated Daniel Lonstein, president and chief revenue officer (CRO) of AireSpring. “We have invested significant resources to ensure that our SD-WAN offerings are market leaders, both in terms of technology and implementation. We realize that without the right implementation process, even the best technology will fail. Our world class team has the experience and expertise to ensure successful outcomes. This award validates our commitment and investment in SD-WAN and other next-generation technologies.” AireSpring identifies these key areas that help its Platinum SD-WAN solution achieve an award-winning level of performance:
To learn more about how AireSpring’s network delivers customized, cost-effective solutions, please visit our website at www.airespring.com or send an email to sales@airespring.com. |
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AireSpring Expands Carrier Choices & Fiber Lit Territory with FairPoint Communications AireSpring has partnered with FairPoint Communications for greater Ethernet access connectivity than ever before. Leveraging FairPoint's advanced data technologies and fiber-based Ethernet network, we now offer our partners and customers expanded connectivity. This new partnership adds approximately 17,000 route miles in northern New England, with network coverage, scalable bandwidth and transport capacity around the greater New England region. This exciting addition to our carrier providers, now available in QuoteSpring 4.0, means expanded territory and more fiber lit buildings! FairPoint makes a terrific contribution to our Northeast region coverage, as we aggressively expand AireSpring connectivity in the Eastern United States.
Bandwidths include:
Download new rates and commissions from our partner portal at: www.agentstar.net (under the Rates/Forms button, click on Rates/Commissions - Excel - Level I, II & III). Please take time as soon as possible to get briefed by your AireSpring Channel Manager on the updated rate sheets. For more information, please contact your Channel Manager. |
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SD-WAN & MPLS: It's a Marriage Not a Divorce
Earn amazing extra bonuses on these rewarding deals:
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Ramping Up to 5G A Peek into the 5G Fundamentals with AireSpring & AT&T Get an in-depth introduction to AT&T's 5G Network Evolution. Understand how fundamental changes in the marketplace are driving demand for bandwidth and AT&T's uniquely strong position in this market, and separate the hype from the reality. AireSpring and AT&T are partnering to provide multiple wireless solutions for connectivity, backup and failover with security and flexibility. Get up to speed on our cutting edge solutions with AireSpring's signature White Glove support and customer care. Join us for this Partner Training Webinar to see how the newest wireless features and services, with options for all types and sizes of businesses, will keep your customers securely connected. Learn how to leverage our Platinum Elite Solution provider status with AT&T to access key wireless solutions, including:
Be ready with the high-demand backup, failover and wireless solutions your customers need. Complete our brief survey at the end of the webinar for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card! WHAT: AireSpring Webinar Partner Training: Ramping Up to 5G with AT&T
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TELARUS PARTNER EXCHANGE Boca Raton Resort & Spa Boca Raton, FL June 19-22, 2018 |
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TBI BIG EVENT |
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TELARUS SD-WAN SUMMIT June 28, 2018 |
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CHANNELCON 2018 Marriott Wardman Hotel Washington, DC July 31-August 2, 2018 |
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Hello Wes, thank you for agreeing to speak with us today. To begin, please tell us a little about yourself and your professional background.
they promoted me to sales manager. I stayed there for four years and was able to really cut my teeth on the world of telecom from a direct sales standpoint. However, one of the things that I kept bumping into was not being able to always provide the right solution for my client based on their needs, because my carrier didn’t offer it. I was always trying to achieve a quota with the one carrier that I worked for and their one product line. In 2005 I went from being a direct sales manager to being an indirect agent. I started my own agency called EtherTel Networks. By 2015 I had built the business up to a very respectable monthly billing rate. Then in 2015 Dominic Antonini contacted me to find out if I would be interested in merging with his master agency, Telecom Brokers, out of Santa Ana, Ca. He offered to buy EtherTel Networks and bring me into the fold and I accepted. I joined Telecom Brokers and became the Vice President of Sales for the South Region, which allowed us to open up a new physical office here in Franklin, TN. I am tasked with bringing on new agents as well as with the personal sales goals for this division. I also manage our direct sales force here in Franklin, and we brought over my agents from EtherTel as well. The marriage between Telecom Brokers and EtherTel Networks has been fantastic. Telecom Brokers hired a wonderful partner support agent to work with me, Amy Culpepper, who is terrific. We are always doing lunch-and-learns with new carriers and a lot of training for an extensive array of products. One of the top five carriers that we always bring into the training sessions is AireSpring. As a broker, we have among the highest payouts in the industry and one of the most diverse carrier portfolios. We have some of the best and most extensive training on specific carriers and product sets, and our corporate office, based in Santa Ana, CA, supports our agents as well as any master agency that I have ever known, or worked with. We are very fair and transparent, and very efficient with the staff that we have. If I were coming out of a direct sales force and wanted to become an agent, I would say that bigger is not always better. If there is a commission issue I can go directly to commissions. If I have a marketing need, I go directly there. I don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops to get what I need done in order to be as productive as I need to be as a VP of sales. We also have great channel manager relationships. I have to give a lot of credit to the founders of Telecom Brokers. We would not be where we are without the support of Dominic Antonini [President and Founder] as well as Nancy Ridge [Executive Vice President]. Nancy is a co-founder and past president of the Alliance of Channel Women. Having her on our team has been so invaluable to me. She’s been around the industry for a long time and has very valuable resources she shares with us. We put partner support managers in our Santa Ana office as well as in our other offices, so agents have a single point of contact for any quotes or support that they need, a person they can call. In larger agencies, it’s more difficult to reach a support person because they have such a large portfolio to take care of. Our support managers have a much better grasp of the accounts and the agents they are dealing with. They are fantastic to work with from a training standpoint to an agent support or customer support standpoint. What do you like about working with AireSpring? I have personally been working with AireSpring for about 11 years. I work with Chris Abbott [Channel Manager] all the time and before Chris, I worked with Charlie Lomond [National Director of Agent Sales] for many years. I’ve had an excellent run with AireSpring, enjoying your outstanding services when I was an agent. I have always been impressed with your dedication to detail, project management support, and overall efficiency as a provider to my customers. AireSpring carries such a diverse set of products, it’s a good feeling that they are able to serve most, if not all of my customers’ needs. They are really quick at getting quotes back to me. Chris does a great job on that and price points are always competitive. The quality of the proposals generated from your QuoteSpring tool are great, and the template is fantastic. It’s very easy to read, professionally designed, and very detailed. You attach reference lists and information about the company that is really informative. Another member of the AireSpring team that I enjoy working with is Mike Chase [SVP Solutions Engineering]. Mike is as solid a solutions engineer as any, with any carrier, and knows the technology of this industry better than any engineer I have worked with. The ability to pull him in on a call is invaluable, he’s incredibly sharp. What would you say is the secret to being a successful agent? Learn as much about the product sets as you can. Pay constant attention to your phone and your existing customers and use self-motivation to be a better version of yourself. Businesses need to hear what we have to say, and in turn, they need someone to listen to their newest and biggest challenges, and that’s what we’re here for. We’re not necessarily here to sell, we’re here to consult and become long-term partners with these customers. The more product training we can get as far as the new breed of telecom agents, the better. The days of selling T1s and PRIs are coming to an end, it’s not the 90s anymore. If agents try to just sell voice and data, they are not going to make it. There is a great diversity of technology that we have to learn about, consult on and have ready as solutions for our clients. Once you get a customer, you have to take care of them. You need a deep and direct connection with your service providers and your client. Work with a master agent and carriers that have dedicated support and are focused on reducing down time, not just managing overtime. A lot of companies are trying to do more with less head count, and that’s where the agent has the ability to introduce clients to carriers that can become part of their management structure. The client has to know that the agent always has their best interests at heart. What is the “next big thing” you think agents should be aware of in 2018 and into 2019? The hot topic in today’s market is definitely SD-WAN. It’s critical that agents can determine if it will be a fit into their client base, and align themselves with carriers that can deliver those solutions in a cost-effective, timely and highly supported manner. One of the things AireSpring has is an impressive platform and offerings to fit almost any client, which gives me another reason to keep quoting and selling their services. By now, most companies have heard about SD-WAN, but now they have to determine if it is right for them. I think in most cases it is, because it’s cost-effective, it’s diverse and has embedded disaster recovery features built in, and it helps to maximize the primary and secondary bandwidth the customer is already paying for. It’s the hot topic for us and most of the lunch-and-learns we do with carriers revolve around this topic. The more agents understand it as a solution, the more they will start bringing it up as a subject of conversation. Most IT directors we deal with have heard of SD-WAN but have not yet started to employ it in their networks. The efficiency and redundancy it provides, as well as the cost-effectiveness, means it is going to be a solution most businesses will want to start taking advantage of over the next six to 18 months. But it depends on their current contractual obligations. I’m dealing right now with a client that has multiple locations and doesn’t even have an MPLS network. They are in desperate need of SD-WAN to have that redundancy at the switch level, not at the manual level. They need to be able to optimize the primary and secondary bandwidth coming into their sites. SD-WAN would be a cost-effective way for them to achieve that and then some. What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of telecom?
vacations to various beach destinations and we spend a lot of time at Lake Norris in East Tennessee. I’m an avid outdoorsman, I love to hunt, fish and play golf. I still play softball on my church team. I’m a native Tennessean, and have lived here all my life. Wes, thank you for taking time to talk with us today. |
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At AireSpring, we know that it is our dedication to customer service that sets us apart, and customer service begins with great employees. Here is your chance to get to know the AireSpring team that solves many technical issues and helps deliver our signature managed services. This month we are talking with Doug Lara, Tier 2 Repair Technician. Hello Doug. To begin, please tell us about your professional background and how long you've been in the telecom industry. I’ve been with AireSpring for five years. Before joining the company, I worked as a systems administrator for Roundabout Entertainment, a post-production company providing creative and technical services for film and related media. I helped design and build new networks with integrated security strategies for multiple operating systems. Before Roundabout, I gained technical experience with BelAir Internet (BAI), starting out in the office, doing remote support work for about a year. Then I had the opportunity to go out and work in the field for two years, which I really enjoyed. The work was very hands-on and I gained exposure to switches, routers, the phones and I got the opportunity to interact with customers. Prior to accepting the position at BAI, I worked at MinuteKEY. I would access key creation kiosks remotely and repair robotic arms or fix other mechanical and technical issues. That was actually a lot of fun, and my experience was an exact match for the needs of the job because I had an extensive background in remote access and repair. Their kiosks are now found at Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart and many other retail locations. When they moved their headquarters to Boulder, Colorado, I left the company and returned to the internet security field because I realized how essential that expertise had become. Prior to joining MinuteKEY, I worked for two security companies, CyberDefender and, before that, Panda Security where I manually removed viruses that the software could not remove and advised customers on security strategies. Those positions gave me the opportunity to learn a lot about remote access and troubleshooting, and to develop my security expertise. Earlier in my career, I also worked for DirectTV services, installing internet and phone, which really helped me become an expert quickly when I joined the AireSpring team. Tell us about your role at AireSpring and how long you’ve been with the company. My AireSpring job combines two roles, both in-house remote work and field work. I’m the main technician that is dispatched out for any of our customers in the greater Los Angeles area. I can take care of most challenges remotely, and if there is a chronic issue for a customer that cannot be resolved in our office, I will go out and solve the problem onsite. I’ve been at AireSpring for five years, starting in Tier 1. I moved into Tier 2 fairly quickly and I enjoy the challenges of more complex problems. I work with a great team and I love helping customers solve their communication issues. Recently, I’ve been working with two very large customers rolling out large, complex installations of the new VeloCloud Platinum SD-WAN package. SD-WAN is an amazing product! Though it is still quite new, it’s the only thing in the field that can quickly and cost-effectively create a failover solution. When one carrier is having issues, a secondary link in the box will pick up the slack and software will automatically move it over to an available carrier, which smooths out load balance and failover. In the long run, after the initial investment in time to set up the product, having SD-WAN will reduce the need for repairs and dramatically reduce the time customers would otherwise spend trying to solve an issue. Small problems will be handled by the software as they occur, avoiding downtime for the customer and reducing the time spent calling carriers to try and escalate a problem. We work as a team to implement this innovative technology for complex, large-scale customers, and remain dedicated to helping solve any issues that arise. My job really consists of isolating a problem for the customer, tracking down the source—often from another carrier—and then helping them fix it. I think of myself as AireSpring’s Personal Customer Tech, because often I’m not fixing AireSpring issues, I’m fixing customer issues. This is the kind of personalized service people get when they buy AireSpring Managed Services. What do you enjoy most about working with AireSpring? I really enjoy the learning experience. Every day I learn something new. I have a number of great mentors here including Eric Scherrer, Tier 2 Tech Lead and Bill Stevens, Tier 2 Tech. I also work very closely with our Network Operations team and I have learned so much on diverse topics, from routing and how the network works to how long a cable should run from a switch to a router—these guys know it all! Recently, I worked closely with Jesus Aguilar, Network Operations Technician, on a really complex SD-WAN install and it was amazing how much I learned on just this one project. I’ve gotten great training here, including ADTRAN certifications for both the Technical Solutions Associate and the Technical Solutions Professional for IP Business Gateways (ATSA/IPBG and ATSP/IPBG). Obtaining these certifications really advanced my troubleshooting knowledge, and I am much better equipped to resolve customer issues. There are so many other opportunities, as well. I’m now preparing to obtain Cisco certification, and have learned all about our Sansay session border controllers (SBCs). This kind of training means I can keep learning more about the equipment and making it all work smoothly for AireSpring customers. I also love working in our new building, and confess to spending some time in the game room. I have a big pool rivalry going on, and hope to start improving my win-loss record. What are some of your hobbies or interests outside of the office?
Doug, thank you for sharing your story with us! |
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AireSpring is an award-winning provider of Managed Connectivity and Cloud Communications solutions providing fully managed and connected end-to-end, next-generation solutions for multi-location enterprise customers, including:
AireSpring's services are delivered over its revolutionary nationwide MPLS Mesh Network, providing customers a fully integrated, end-to-end solution from a single vendor.    |
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